Catholic Herald: Some Scholars Have Been Undermining the Gospels for Decades

It isn’t just Fr. Sosa: Some scholars have been undermining the Gospels for decades

By Fr. Thomas Petri, O.P.

St. Jerome, one of the great Doctors of the Church and the patron saint of Biblical scholars, famously said that “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Yet in a recent interview, the current Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Arturo Sosa SJ, asserted that Jesus’ words, as recorded in the Gospels, are not necessarily what He meant to say. If Fr. Sosa is right, then it appears that the Scriptures are not a trustworthy source to know Jesus Christ.

Responding to Cardinal Müller’s earlier interview in which he noted that the Lord’s prohibition against divorce in Matthew 19 is absolute and cannot be changed, Fr. Sosa ostensibly agreed: “No one can change the word of Jesus.” However, he’s certain that “there would have to be a lot of reflection on what Jesus really said. At that time, no one had a recorder to take down His words.” He goes on to enthuse: “Over the last century in the Church, there has been a great blossoming of studies that seek to understand what Jesus meant to say.”